Green's 19 Leads Butler Over UIC 66-50 And Into Horizon Finals

Green scored 19 points and took control during a late first-half
run that carried No. 14 Butler to a 66-50 victory in the conference
tournament semifinals Saturday night.

Top-seeded Butler (28-3) will play second-seeded Cleveland State
(21-11) Tuesday night for the championship and an automatic berth
in the NCAA tournament. The Bulldogs lost to Wright State in last
year's conference title game, then to eventual champion Florida in
the NCAA regional finals.

Robert Kreps led the Flames (18-15) with 15 points, 11 in the
closing minutes after the outcome was assured, and Jermaine Dailey
added 12.

Chicago, the No. 4 seed, led most of the first half by
dominating the boards, taking its biggest lead at 16-11 after three
free throws by Scott VanderMeer.

That's when Green and the Bulldogs took over. The 6-foot guard
had five points in a 12-3 run, including a go-ahead basket with
4:40 remaining. Campbell then hit his second of five 3-pointers to
give the Bulldogs their biggest lead up to that point in the game.

But it didn't end there.

Driving to the basket on almost every Butler possession the rest
of the half, Green scored the next six points for the Bulldogs.

After Dailey hit one of two free throws for the Flames, Green
again drove through the lane but rifled the ball out to the left
corner for an open 3-pointer by Julian Betko. Then
in the closing seconds, Green held the ball near midcourt for a
final shot, but this time, as he drove in and drew the Chicago
defense to him, he found Drew Streicher
alone under the basket for an easy layup and a 34-24 lead at
halftime.

Chicago, which hit only two shots from the field the final 11
minutes of the first half and first three minutes of the second
period, never recovered.

Even after Green left the game with his third foul, Butler
continued to widen the lead. Consecutive 3-pointers by Graves and
Campbell pushed the lead to 53-29 with 12 minutes to go, and the
Flames got no closer than 13 the rest of the game.